Diagram of the Milky Way showing our Sun, the white dwarf, and the gas cloud relative to our neighbor galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (adajcent to it the Small Magellanic Cloud). The white dwarf RX J0439.8-6809 and the gas cloud are between us and the Large Magellanic Cloud. Credit: Philipp Richter/University of Potsdam

Astronomers at the Universities of Tübingen and Potsdam have identified the hottest white dwarf ever discovered in our Galaxy. With a temperature of 250,000 degrees Celsius, this dying star at the outskirts of the Milky Way has already even entered its cooling phase. The researchers also were the first to observe an intergalactic gas cloud moving towards the Milky Way — indicating that galaxies collect fresh material from deep space, which they can use to make new stars. These findings are published in the latest Astronomy & Astrophysics [Analysis of HST/COS spectra of the bare C–O stellar core H1504+65 and a high-velocity twin in the Galactic halo].
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